Monday, August 24, 2015

Cameras Delivered for NASA’s Mission

The
first U.S. mission to return samples of an asteroid to Earth is another
step closer to its fall 2016 launch, with the delivery of three cameras
that will image and map the giant space rock.

A camera suite
that will allow NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource
Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission to see a
near-Earth asteroid, map it, and pick a safe and interesting place to
touch the surface and collect a sample, has arrived at Lockheed Martin
Space Systems in Denver for installation to the spacecraft.

“This
is another major step in preparing for our mission,” said Mike
Donnelly, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “With the delivery of the camera suite to
the spacecraft contractor, we will have our full complement of cameras
and spectrometers.”

The OSIRIS-REx mission is scheduled to launch
in September 2016 to study Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid that’s about
one-third of a mile (approximately 500 meters) across. After
rendezvousing with Bennu in 2018, the spacecraft will survey the
asteroid, obtain a sample, and return it to Earth in 2023.

The University of Arizona’s camera suite, OCAMS, sits on a test

bench that mimics its arrangement on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.

The three cameras that compose the instrument–MapCam (left),

PolyCam and SamCam – are the eyes of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx

mission. They will map the asteroid Bennu, help choose a sample

site, and ensure that the sample is correctly stowed on

the spacecraft.

Credits: University of Arizona/Symeon Platts

The
three camera instrument suite, known as OCAMS (OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite),
was designed and built by the University of Arizona’s Lunar and
Planetary Laboratory. The largest of the three cameras, PolyCam, is a
small telescope that will acquire the first images of Bennu from a
distance of 1.2 million miles (2 million kilometers) and provide high
resolution imaging of the sample site. MapCam will search for satellites
and dust plumes around Bennu, map the asteroid in color, and provide
images to construct topographic maps. SamCam will document the sample
acquisition event and the collected sample.

“PolyCam, MapCam and
SamCam will be our mission’s eyes at Bennu,” said Dante Lauretta,
principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona,
Tucson. “OCAMS will provide the imagery we need to complete our mission
while the spacecraft is at the asteroid.”

OSIRIS-REx is the first
U.S. mission to sample an asteroid, and will return the largest sample
from space since the Apollo lunar missions. Scientists expect that Bennu
may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and the source of
water and organic molecules that may have seeded life on Earth.
OSIRIS-REx’s investigation will inform future efforts to develop a
mission to mitigate an impact, should one be required.

"The most
important goal of these cameras is to maximize our ability to
successfully return a sample,” said OCAMS instrument scientist Bashar
Rizk from the University of Arizona, Tucson. “Our mission requires a lot
of activities during one trip – navigation, mapping, reconnaissance,
sample site selection, and sampling. While we are there, we need the
ability to continuously see what is happening around the asteroid in
order to make real-time decisions."

NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management,
systems engineering and safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx.
Dante Lauretta is the mission's principal investigator at the University
of Arizona, Tucson. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver is building
the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers
Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama,
manages New Frontiers for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington.